Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts

BA (Hons) Illustration

How will we experience life in the Future? Working at the intersection of art, design and technology, this course in Creative Intelligence & Innovation will enable you to understand and respond to the rapidly changing world around us, and to produce work of your own that engages with, and responds to, the challenges posed by these changes. In addition to the creative practice, and drawing on philosophy, media, sociology and history, the theoretical understanding provided by this course serves to support and drive innovation and experimentation in a range of creative disciplines and mediums. 

While studying BA (Hons) Creative Intelligence and Innovation, you will be given the space to use your voice and the freedom to experiment with and develop skills in a variety of art and design disciplines and techniques. Not only is this course about creative discovery, but of self-discovery, as you respond to challenges and projects in your choice of medium (for example: image making, 2D and 3D design, craft, digital and physical artworks, visual and audio performance). Creative briefs and self-directed studio-based projects will focus on your individual approach to contemporary creative enquiry with the intent of developing and presenting new ways of understanding and transforming the world through creative expression.  

Over the three years of this course, one of the fundamental skills you will learn is how to face new challenges and situations and to respond with creativity, intelligence and innovation, and with the confidence that comes from awareness of the self, and of the world around you. You will be encouraged to participate in a range of enrichment activities such as exhibitions, collaborative projects and symposia in collaboration with the wider intellectual and social community of Cambridge. The future doesn’t just happen – it is created, and this course will enable you to develop the skills, concepts, perspectives and values with which to contribute confidently to that vital process. 

What To Expect From This Course

Year One 

The first year of this course is designed to equip you with knowledge of both historical and contemporary creative practices and perspectives, by means of a series of introductory and developmental creative briefs, practical and theoretical sessions, experimental workshops, individual and collaborative projects, lectures, field trips, seminars and tutorials, which collectively introduce you to the possibilities presented by this course. 

Guided by our expert tutors, you will be supported to develop and research your own ideas and outcomes in relation to a series of innovative project briefs. There is a focus on introducing you to specialist skills, technologies, materials, approaches and methodologies, intended to help you develop your capacity for creative and critical enquiry in creative practice.  

Year Two

In the second year, you will continue to develop your own emerging personal identity as a creative innovator. Individual and collaborative projects, exhibitions and publications will build on the foundations established in your first year, expanding on your existing skills to further develop your distinctive voice within your respective fields of practice. 

You’ll have the opportunity to develop your ideas and understanding of materials through a choice of experimental briefs representing significant contemporary themes. You will also begin to recognise the importance of ethical perspectives in relation to creative practice research. You will develop a personal Manifesto in the form of a video essay, which helps you towards the identification and selection of a dissertation topic, as well as a module which culminates in a public exhibition. 

Year Three

Your final year is the link between college and your career in the creative arts. It consolidates and develops your ability to direct and plan your own work through the production of three areas of work – a sustained piece of critical writing (Dissertation), professional context outputs (Positioning Your Practice) and an Independent Major Project (Showcase).  

With the expert support of our tutors and industry specialists, you will have developed a sense of the possibilities of your creative practice, as well as the means to visualise those possibilities.  

Your final year is designed to aid you in identifying and pursuing your academic, professional and personal ambitions. There are opportunities to focus on applying to postgraduate courses, through focussing on defining a portfolio of creative practice, writing a personal statement, and developing study proposals. Students are also encouraged to participate in a range of enrichment activities, often in collaboration with the University of Cambridge.